Abstract: The study of headland-bay beaches is significant to the stability of sandy coasts. After a review of some models concerning beach equilibrium, types of beach profile and coastal sediment movement, the authors realized that the artificial neural network model represents the new direction for improvement of existing models. Our experience demonstrates that it is more efficient if we divide the beach into sections and use beach equilibrium profile model for each sections or use two or more models for one beach profile. In former researches, the influence of tide on beach is always ignored. So it is required to enhance the study of tide-dominated beaches. In addition, there is lack of formulas for the sediment transportation, and the formulas now in use have too many assumptions. Therefore, it requires further research in this subject. In conclusion, the multi-disciplinary integration is the key to the headland-bay beaches research.